It is well known that behavior is affected by environmental events. Recently it has become possible to write mathematical equations that describe the relationship between behavior and environmental events. Certain properties of behavior (such as how often it occurs) and certain properties of environmental events (such as how often positive consequences for behavior occur) appear in the equations. Equations that describe behavior-environment relationships are usually generated by mathematical theories. A number of different mathematical theories are currently being studied, but not all of them can be right. The purpose of Dr. McDowell's research project is to study one of these theories, known as linear-system theory, and to compare it to another theory, known as matching theory. Matching theory is an older account that has been very successful, but which seems to have some limitations. Linear-system theory is a newer theory that appears promising and has the potential to be more comprehensive than matching theory. Dr. McDowell's research project includes mathematical work and empirical work. The purpose of the mathematical work is to further develop the linear-system theory. The empirical work involves standard laboratory preparations that require an organism (a human, a pigeon, or a rat, depending on the experiment) to execute a simple behavior (a lever-press or a key- peck) in a controlled environment where occasional consequences (delivery of money, brief access to grain, or brief access to water) are arranged for the behavior. Many results obtained from this type of laboratory preparation have been shown to generalize to naturally occurring human behavior. The purpose of the empirical work is to test the linear-system theory, and to determine if it is more comprehensive than matching theory. The results of the mathematical and the empirical work will tell us how good the linear-system theory is, and so will take us further toward the goal of understanding, in a precise and quantitative way, how the environment regulates behavior.
